Friday, October 25, 2013

Art Works

In my continuing quest for self-improvement, I’ve taken up
delving into “oh crap!” moments as I dabble with learning to paint in water
colors.

Thus, I mutter “oh crap!” whenever I mess up in my
late-stage foray into painting, which outburst echoes—and hopefully draws some
of the sting from—far more unsettling “oh crap!” moments in life.

Recently, I’ve managed to do an art piece on an incident
that happened last spring. For reasons that will become evident, I’ve titled
this work “Losing It.”

For a couple-three years now, I’ve joined other veterans as
volunteers staffing tables in the “Activist Area” at Clearwater’s
Great Hudson River Revival music festival at Croton Point Park, NY.
This year, several of us decided to display a large array of Combat Paper art
works on just about every nook and cranny of a street festival-type tent
sheltering a folding table covered with more art work.

The idea was to raise public awareness, funds and support for
the Combat Paper Project, which provides workshops at which military veterans
turn old uniforms into hand-made paper, to which art is applied that addresses deep-seated
emotions about war-time and postwar experiences.

On the second afternoon of the festival, after others in the
group had drifted off to rest, catch some music or head home, a thunderstorm
cloud rose just across the Hudson River.
Abruptly, a fierce wind swirled across the water, scattering Combat Paper
pieces into wet grass and mud puddles from a previous rainstorm.

I felt overwhelmed by hostile weather, trying to save what
seemed like an endangered enclave of artists’ works. “Oh crap!” was the mildest
of the volley of four-letter words I yowled.

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About Me

I'm a poet, journalist, author and editor of several books, including A Citizen's Guide to Grassroots Campaigns, Earth Songs: New and Selected Poems, and Winning Hearts & Minds: War Poems by Vietnam Veterans. I also teach writing workshops and college journalism courses. For more information: www.janbarry.net.